Pete,
 
Thanks for responding. I have seen you officiate several times
and think that you do a fairly good job.
 
One of quality standards that I judge referees by is consistancy.
I felt and still feel that the referees were exceptionally
inconsistant during the MSU/MTU fiasco. This is after tape review.
I was not at the game and can rely only on magnetic media and the
skill of the camera operators and the editors. But I can not help
but feel that they represented numerous the vacuous calls correctly.
The ref's had problems with obvious calls (tripping, slashes, hooks,
high sticking) while opting for interference and holding calls which
unless the player has both hands wrapped around the player are more
judgemental and often depend on the position in which the viewer is
in. This  is a causative factor for inconsistancy. This also ruined
what could have been a very fine game. Note that I was not the only
one who observed this.  I think the same thing has been said by a
number of people including the press int he Detroit area covering the
game.
 
If a referee is going to call holding and interference in one situation
and not the next, I am going to be unhappy. If a ref is going to
call holding but not tripping, again I am not going to be happy.
 
In my opinion, there are blatant penalties where injury is possible
and/or the act was clearly beyond the scope of fair play that should
always be called regardless of the game situation.  On the other hand,
much of hockey is about putting one self in a position to impede the
intentions of the opposing player. Where the act has no reasonable
liklihood of injury it becomes judgemental as to whether or not the
act is a part of the hockey game. Clutching, grabbing, holding,
interfering are all a part of the game. Whether or not one calls a
penalty for these depends strictly on the individual and not the
rules book. For example, where have you seen a game in which every
call was made because a player put his hands on the opponent's stick?
 
You, as a referee, make a decision as to when to be blind and
when to raise your arm. If you are consistant in your calls so that
the players know exactly where the line is, and if you tend to
maintain the same standard as the norm of the other ref's in the
conference, you will generally be a pretty competent ref.
 
As respect to MTU hockey: we commit far to many penalties. This has
hurt us in the past and will continue to hurt us in the future as
long as our players do not exercise self restraint, particularly when
they start to tire.
 
My comment "where do they find these guys they call referees?" refers
to their on ice performance and not their off ice occupations. How
are referees qualified and selected for tournaments? Does anyone look
at how well they have performed in the past? Do ref's put in the
same amount of time as the coaches and players? Does the game have
as much of an impact upon them as it does for the coaches and players?
Are good performances rewarded and and poor performances sanctioned?
I am at all certain that these questions can be answered in the way
that we would want them to be answered.
 
Walt Olson
 
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